The invention relates to phosphoinositol-glycan-peptides with insulin-like action, a process for the preparation thereof and the use, in particular as pharmaceutical for treating diabetes mellitus or non-insulin-dependent diabetes.
Insulin exerts a multiplicity of actions on insulin-sensitive tissue. One noteworthy effect is the rapid reduction in the glucose level in meals when insulin is administered. This is brought about by a rapid uptake of the glucose from the blood by myocytes and adipocytes. Insulin furthermore activates glycogen synthetase and inhibits lipolysis. Insulin promotes protein synthesis from amino acids and enhances the induction of pyruvate dehydrogenase and phosphofructokinase and inhibits the formation of certain enzymes of gluconeogenesis, such as pyruvate carboxylase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase.
Type II diabetes, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is associated with insulin resistance by peripheral tissue such as muscle tissue or adipose tissue. The glucose utilization reduced thereby is caused by the absence of insulin stimulation of glucose transport and of subsequent metabolic processes (glycogenesis, lipogenesis). This multiple resistance suggests that there is a defect at the receptor or post-receptor level, i.e. before production of the second messenger (Garvey, Diabetes/Metabolism Reviews, 5, (1989), 727-742).
To date no active substances which bypass the insulin receptor and nevertheless display an insulin-like action have been disclosed.